Three dissident Unionist MPs were awarded the honourary fig leaf last Friday to mark their imminent return to the fold. Jeffrey positively glowed as he emerged claiming the UUP had now adopted a definitive position on the joint declaration. It was no basis for progress, required change and was not binding on the UUP.
No basis for progress? Jeffrey might point to the executive calling on government to insist on "acts of completion". But these words are taken from Tony Blair and the joint declaration itself. By insisting on acts of completion they implicitly call for the declaration to be acted upon. In fact the headings used in the resolution are taken, almost verbatim, from the declaration itself. Incredibly the third paragraph actually states: "The executive emphatically endorses the government's statement' regarding "exclusively peaceful and democratic means."
The furore began with concern about the Home Service units of the RIR and, sure enough, the government is called upon to give a firm and unambiguous commitment on its future – hardly a radical change from the joint declaration's aim to maintain enough troops consistent with the need to meet "security and public order" requirements.
In relation to the most emotive issue of all – Dublin internal interference through the monitoring body disingenuously presented as a danger to Ulster, the executive remains strangely silent. To satisfy the ostensible concerns of the right, one would expect stirring denunciations but not a word is uttered! Instead the UUP "welcomes" the new power to impose sanctions and calls upon the government to 'honour its obligations'! Which obligations? – those in the British-Irish joint declaration of course!
On 'normalisation' the UUP executive commits itself to a "normal and peaceful society' but rejects the removal of a permanent military presence from "over half the province" as "totally unacceptable". Most people would agree with what is hardly a revolutionary demand. Devolved policing and justice is actually welcomed but can only occur "where there is public confidence"– the joint declaration wholeheartedly agrees. The "models in the joint declaration" are said to be not binding on unionists who take the view that there is no room for cross-border bodies on policing and justice matters but accept "practical cross-border cooperation". This is hardly earth shattering stuff and many unionists would prefer cross border security elements including the right of hot pursuit.
As in the joint declaration itself, there is a section dealing with human rights and equality. The executive supports "the merit principle, equality of opportunity and equal protection under the law". Few will quarrel with this. As with the joint declaration, the emphasis is on equality of opportunity (to be unequal!) and there is no suggestion of any radical promotion of equality itself. There is even a call for unionists to be "more actively involved in equality and human rights issues".
One further emotive issue appears, "fugitives from justice" and the UUP offers "complete rejection" of any "effective amnesty" for so-called OTRs.
The media spin on the affair – that the UUP has rejected the joint declaration is nonsense.
In its conclusion the executive states blandly that the joint declaration is the work of the British and Irish governments and that unionists are "not bound by it". The statement ends on a plaintive note declaring the joint declaration no "satisfactory basis for progress" and in need of radical change. Really? So that is what it is all about! I seem to recall David Trimble saying as much some months ago. The UUP never accepted the joint declaration but was studying it while dissidents claimed to reject every jot, tittle and party whip.
All of which confirms what we knew already, the controversy is about the leadership ambitions of the right. Internal and external rivals have vied for leadership since the 1960s, leaving the rest of us to pay the price.
The rivals inevitably approached from the right and where there were no real grounds, they were invented. They have conjured up conspiracies and stimulated ancient animosities and while some conspiracies have not been entirely without foundation they produced a self-fulfiling prophecy with the help of naive nationalists and unionists too easily manipulated by our respective warlords.
